SEARCH: The Grail
Season One Episode 10 | Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller | Serialised Fiction
PREVIOUSLY ON SEARCH: Matt comes face to face with The Ghost (AKA Slanaighear) as The Wells Foundation observe from afar. The Ghost reveals that Matt’s father, John is not only alive but is working with her. Matt speaks to his Dad for the first time before The Wells Foundation break up the reunion and they have to escape. But they arrange to meet…
From: amasters@twf.org
To: legal@twf.org; directors@twf.org; hwells@twf.org; hr@twf.org
BCC: ewells@twf.org; jmcullach@twf.org
Subject: Appendix 44 Caveat [Validity of Evidence]
Classification: Official-Internal-Classified
FAO Legal, Board of Directors & CEO
Please view this cover note as a caveat as to the following evidence entered into The McNair Report, the official investigation into the McNair Incursion and breaches related to Project 220904.
The following appendix, transcript of a conversation between Matt McNair and John McNair [Alias “The Grail”] has been obtained in manners which could be argued unlawful and thus inclusion of this evidence is under advisement. This specific transcript is being entered into this draft of the report for completion purposes, however would likely be excluded from the final draft as the methods used to obtain this evidence question it’s validity.
It has been pulled together by phone-tapping the subjects in question and eyewitness testimony from those gathered nearby the site in which the alleged conversation took place.
Due the nature of the revelations contained within this transcript, it would be in the best interests of the organisation that it be discarded from the final report. The questions of validity in this instance will work in our favour. We are including here for the board to form an opinion and provide a steer of its future use in this investigation.
Kind regards,
Alanna Masters
Internal Investigations Manager.
Internal Investigations, Data Protection & Incursions Task Force
Appendix 44: Transcript of Conversation Between Matt McNair & John McNair
Obtained via Phone-Tapping & Eyewitness Testimony
Location: Fox Marina
[AUDIO OBTAINED FROM MATT MCNAIR’S PHONE: TYRES CRUNCH ON GRAVEL. CAR DOOR OPENING. WAVES LAPPING. SEAGULLS. THE PITTER PATTER OF RAIN. A SECOND PAIR OF FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.]
JOHN MCNAIR: Matt?
MATT: Jesus Christ. It really is you.
[SILENCE]
MATT: Nice trick with the clue. I never have forgot the time Sarah tried to push me off the pier at the marina back home.
JOHN MCNAIR: Neither have I.
[SILENCE]
JOHN MCNAIR: You...you want to sit down?
MATT: Aye. I think I need to.
[AUDIO: FOOTSTEPS ON GRAVEL THEN CREAK OF WOOD]
JOHN MCNAIR: I got you...here I got you coffee from the food truck over there. You drink coffee? You weren’t the last time I saw you. Too young.
MATT: I am now. Christ. Dad, it’s you. It’s really you. And look at you. Exactly as I remember. Like a photograph, frozen in time and place.
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye.
MATT: I don’t understand. You hardly look like you’ve aged a day. You look no older than when you disappeared.
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye well, I wish I could say the same about you.
MATT: What did they do to you Dad?
JOHN MCNAIR: They did a lot to me son. But none of it, none of it was as bad as taking me away from you kids.
MATT: Aye, I know. [PAUSE] Dad this is all…this is just…
JOHN MCNAIR: …A lot to take in. Aye.
MATT: I just figured this story would be another wee...I didn’t....I didn’t expect any of this. I mean. You’re here. You’re alive. After all this time, I found you. I just...what exactly have I stumbled into?
JOHN MCNAIR: You’ve only stumbled into a small piece of the puzzle, Matty. This goes beyond me, or Jo. Our story in all of this, Christ. It’s just one of many. And they all have one thing in common, tying this all together.
MATT: The Wells Foundation.
JOHN MCNAIR: The Wells Foundation. Aye.
MATT: There’s always someone with deep pockets calling the shots.
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye. The world runs on the blood of coin, that’s for sure. And The Wells Foundation is positively gushing.
MATT: I feel like I’ve heard that name before.
JOHN MCNAIR: Most probably you have. It’s who I was investigating when I disappeared.
MATT: They took you.
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye.
MATT: Because you were close to finding out what they do and exposing the truth.
JOHN MCNAIR: Got it one.
MATT: And what is it they do, exactly? Who are they?
JOHN MCNAIR: What don’t they do? ‘Digging into Scotland’s past, for the world’s future.’ That’s their slogan. Their mission statement.
MATT: I bet that looks good on an office mug or a baseball cap.
JOHN MCNAIR: [LAUGHS] Aye. If they weren’t hiding in the shadows this would be on every bumper sticker in Scotland.
MATT: They’re not just hiding though. Am I right?
JOHN MCNAIR: I wish they were.
MATT: What do they want?
JOHN MCNAIR: Everything. And everywhere. They want to build the future.
MATT: Jesus. This sounds like one of the bedtime stories you told us when we were kids. Like someone used The X-Files as an idea for a business model.
JOHN MCNAIR: Believe you me, I wish it was just a story. It’s not. And not only is it about something they believe, it’s something they have found.
MATT: What?
JOHN MCNAIR: The Wells Foundation was created back in 1976. Story goes that their founders believed that throughout Scotland, buried a long time ago and buried deep, there exists these natural pockets of power. They believed the myths and legends that run throughout Scotland’s history weren’t fables or fiction, but a document to the true history of the country and its past. From the Old Man of Storr and Fingal’s Cave to The Cailleach, The Whirlpool and bloody Nessie for christ sake. They believe all of these stories and places that hold these myths are the key to finding these pockets, extracting whatever power they contain and harnessing them, using them for whatever it is they can do. Or more to the point, what they want them to do. There are many of them Matt. So many. They’ve found some, of course. And they’ve used them. Not just on Jo and I. But there are others. And they won’t be satsified until they find them all and use them on as many people as they can. ON everyone. Our myths and legends started somewhere, and The Wells Foundation are making sure they aren’t going anywhere.
MATT: The monsters aren’t hiding under the bed anymore.
JOHN MCNAIR: No, they’re not. And if you ask me, they should have kept them buried. They should have stayed history. After all, what’s history if not the world’s way of letting us learn from the mistakes of the past, not use them as a blueprint for the future.
MATT: What did they do to you? To Jo?
JOHN MCNAIR: We were part of one of their projects. The one they called The Affectations they came to call it. From the pockets of power they’ve found, they extracted whatever energy it held and manipulated it in a way that they could apply to living subjects. It’s called The Affectations on the account of the affects and influence they have on our behaviours and ability once they apply that found energy onto us.
MATT: And there’s more.
JOHN MCNAIR: A lot more.
MATT: What did they do to Jo?
JOHN MCNAIR: They gave her what they call The Ghost Effect, which they obtained from the cave and the cliffs of Clanyard Bay. You know the story?
MATT: The Ghost Piper of Clanyard Bay? Aye, I think so.
JOHN MCNAIR: The stories goes that the piper disappeared in the caves of Clanyard Bay and was never found. However the legend has it that you can see his ghost in the entrance and hear him play the pipes. An Extraction Team visited that very place, extracting various bits of rock from the cave and cliffs around where he was said to have disappeared. Whatever they were looking for, they found. They extracted the energy from the samples they took and applied it to Jo until she became The Ghost. She can “ghost” from place to place. One minute she’s here the next minute she’s not.
MATT: What about you?
JOHN MCNAIR: Something they call The Grail Effect. Extracted from the rocks of The Old Man of Storr. Ironic eh? The Old Man of Storr that never grows old.
MATT: You’re kidding.
JOHN MCNAIR: I’m not.
MATT: Why?
JOHN MCNAIR: Because they could. And to be cruel. And they needed to try it out on someone. The person behind it, Eleanor Wells, she is a vengeful and vindictive person. If you cross them, they will punish you. My punishment? They gave me more time than I was due, preventing me from growing old and dying, knowing that I could never see the two people left in the world that I live for.
MATT: Jesus. Dad.
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye. Well. At least, in my absence, you’ve turned into someone good. And I bet Sarah’s the same.
MATT: I’m beginning to feel like there’s no such thing as someone good in this life. Only those with smaller shadows than the rest.
JOHN MCNAIR: And a way with words as well.
MATT: Learned from the best.
MATT: What’s the plan here?
JOHN MCNAIR: We tell the world this story. And bring The Wells Foundation down in the process. But more than anything, get our lives back. I think it’s about time we do that, don’t you?
MATT: I do. But how?
JOHN MCNAIR: Don’t you worry. It’s all part of the plan. When Jo and I escaped, we gathered and took a lot of evidence. Recordings. Footage. Documents. She has been filing it away, taking it somewhere and hiding it. We’ve even got some of the samples that contain the energy they’ve extracted by digging around Scotland. Even I don’t know where, I made sure she didn’t tell me, just in case. But I have enough clues to find Jo. We follow the clues, find her, put everything together, and put it out there.
MATT: OK. But first, we need to phone Sarah. She needs to know, Dad. That you’re alive for one thing. And—
AUDIO: [CAR APPROACHING]
JOHN MCNAIR: Shit. They’ve found us.
MATT: Shit. What do we do?
JOHN MCNAIR: Are ye, ye know, handy in a fight?
MATT: Handy in a fi--I’m a writer. Course I’m naw. Are you?
JOHN MCNAIR: I’m a writer that’s been locked away for 15 years, what do you think?
MATT: Look, it’s fine. Our cars are closer. We get in them, drive away. What are they going to do, shoot us? They don’t have guns, this is Scotland--oh shit no it looks like they do have guns.
AUDIO: CAR DOOR SLAMMING.
MCCULLACH: MCNAIR!
JOHN MCNAIR: Get in your car, I’ll get to mine and lead them away.
MATT: Dad.
JOHN MCNAIR: Not up for discussion. Do it.
MCCULLACH: MCNAIR! IT’S OVER.
JOHN MCNAIR: GO, MATT!
AUDIO: [MATT RUNNING, BREATHLESS. CAR DOOR OPENS AND SHUTS]
MATT: Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
AUDIO: [CAR IGNITION STARTING AND CAR PULLING AWAY]
AUDIO: [GUNSHOTS]
MATT: Oh god. Shit.
AUDIO: [DIALLING TONE AS PHONE RINGS]
MATT: Come on Dad. Be in the car. Be in the car. Pick up. Pick up.
JOHN MCNAIR: Matt.
MATT: Dad, thank Christ. Did you make it?
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye, I made it. I’m in the car.
MATT: Is he following you?
JOHN MCNAIR: Aye. Look, Matt do you have a pen?
MATT: Aye.
JOHN MCNAIR: I can’t give you everything but write this down.
MATT: Wait, Dad, what’s the plan here?
[AUDIO: CAR HORNS]
JOHN MCNAIR: The plan is write down these clues
to try and find Jo.
MATT: Da--
JOHN MCNAIR: --There’s no time. This guy is driving like a lunatic. If he doesn’t catch me, chances are I’m being driven off the road. Now listen. Jo’s was from Balloch. We never agreed where she would go if things didn’t go to plan and we had to split up. But head to Balloch. My bet is she wants to get closer to home.
MATT: How do I find her?
JOHN MCNAIR: Do what you do best, ask around. She has family there too. A Mum. Alice. My bet is finding her will give you a clue to where she is. Or, if I know Jo like I think I do, she’ll be keeping an eye on her Mum and come find you. It probably won’t be easy, but it’s the best bet.
MATT: What else?
JOHN MCNAIR: The most important thing about Jo is is about the Affectation she has. It’s a little unstable. She will be taking medicine to suppress it, but I don’t know how much she’ll have left. So she won’t be using it as much, so don’t get into too many situations where it’s needed.
MATT: Look, just get safe. We can’t lose you again.
JOHN MCNAIR: I know. I think, I think I lost him. Look, Matt. Find Jo. She has everything. We snuck as much evidence out as we could. It’s the only way to end this whole thing. Clear your name. And, hopefully, get our lives back.
MATT: What do you want me to tell Sarah?
JOHN MCNAIR: Tell her. Tell her that I’m proud of her. And I’ll share my anti-aging tips with her when I see her.
[AUDIO: MATT & JOHN LAUGH]
JOHN MCNAIR: It’s so good to hear your voice again. And to have seen you.
MATT: And you. I never gave up. After all this time, I still believed you were out there.
JOHN MCNAIR: I know son. This will all be over soon. And when it is we—
[TYRES SQUEALING AND CRUNCH OF METAL AS THE CAR CRASHES]
[SILENCE]
[SOMEONE IS STRUGGLING. IN PAIN]
[BEEP BEEP BEEP. CALL FAILED.]
END OF TRANSCRIPT
With our TENTH episode of SEARCH: SEASON ONE we have an emotional reunion between Matt and John, a father and son separated for years by The Wells Foundation. Not only this, we also get a LOT of answers and a clear trajectory for where the story is going now as we approach the end. And of course, with all those answers provided this episode, it needs to end on a cliffhanger.
This was definitely one of my favourite episodes to write. It’s a two-hander, effectively a bottle episode and it packs in a lot. It has emotional character moments whilst moving the story forward and building out the world of SEARCH. I really hope you enjoy it too!
As we move closer to the endgame of SEARCH: SEASON ONE, I aim to be a bit more frequent with the episodes along with my weekly Fifty-Word Story.
Hope you are enjoying this series and thank you for reading, sharing and supporting.
Cheers
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